


A New Week

by kathiann



Series: Jace Series [3]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-07
Updated: 2009-05-19
Packaged: 2017-12-10 11:09:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathiann/pseuds/kathiann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Confessions and Choir Music. You don't have to read it first, but do it anyway, OK? Jane and Grace head back to work the morning after. Pure Jace fluff. If you don't like, don't read or read it anyway and make me happy. Rated M for chapter 5, which can easily be skipped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Monday

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel to Confessions and Choir Music. As such this will be pure Jace. Be for warned. I wrote this special for Eve215 and Demonbunny7, I hope you guys enjoy. This has not been betaed, but I promised that I would post something tonight, and this won out.

Grace woke slowly, she was warm and cozy, which was odd, because she was asleep on the sofa. She had her legs curled up underneath her and her head was resting on the chest of the most gorgeous man she had known in some time. Try as she might, he just couldn't measure up to little Bobby Jones in the third grade, her first crush.

They had spent the night watching movies and talking. Ok, so not so much watching movies as making out while the movies were one in the background. She had refused to let him get to second base, she had insisted that he needed to take her on a real date first, so they had fallen asleep sitting there, cuddling on her sofa.

She didn't really want to get up, but she knew if she didn't that they would both be late for work, and while Jane might be able to pull it off, she wouldn't be able to, so she reluctantly placed her feet on the floor and stretched. She felt Jane's arms tighten around her, pulling her back down to the sofa.

"Don't get up, it's too early." He whispered hoarsely in her ear.

"Maybe for you." She chuckled lightly, "But I for one need to be to work on time. I don't get to be late and get away with it." She pulled away from him reluctantly and stood. "Besides, you need to go home and get changed too. You can't go to work wearing the same thing you wore yesterday." She smirked at him slightly standing up. Despite sleeping on the sofa all night she was surprisingly rested. She credited that to being wrapped in Jane's arms all night.

"I've got a change of clothes at work. We could car pool." He gave her what was quickly becoming her favorite smile, seductive smile #1.

She gave an exasperated sigh and a smile of her own. "Fine, but I still have to get ready, so you are going to have to let me go."

He reluctantly gave in and released her from his grasp. He watched as she walked to the back of the small apartment where her bedroom and bathroom were and waited until he heard the shower starting before getting off the sofa. He needed to distract himself from what was going on in the bathroom and walked into the kitchen to see if there was anything he could cook for breakfast. He knew she wasn't going to want to sit down and eat; she was far too anxious this morning, what with having to go to work and face Rigsby. Really, if anyone needed to be nervous, it was him, but that was ok.

He opened her refrigerator and noticed that, unlike most refrigerators of people who were rarely home; hers was stocked with fresh food and produce. He noticed that there were English muffins, bacon, and the makings of omelets, and decided that he would make her his favorite breakfast sandwich.

He was just finishing building the sandwiches, a warm collection of eggs, bacon, cheese and fresh vegetables, when Grace came out of the bedroom, dressed and ready to go.

"What smells so good?" She asked coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist, kissing his neck.

"Keep doing that and we just might not make it into work today." Jane said in a low growl. Grace pretended not to hear him and continued to kiss along his neck, her lips coming to rest just behind his ear. She nibbled on the sensitive part behind his ear, while spreading her hands up his chest towards his shoulders.

"I just love a man who can cook." She whispered in his ear before letting him go.

"Well," Jane chocked out, he cleared his throat and then continued. "If I had known that's all I had to do to get this type of reaction, I would have started cooking for you a long time ago."

Grace gave a light laugh and matched his boyish grin #2 with one of her own. "Come on, I'll drive." She said, grabbing one of his sandwiches off the counter and heading out the door.

The ride to the CBI building was uneventful. Jane spent most of the time playing with the radio in her car and telling her what her preset stations meant about her. It was definitely a better experience than the last time they were in her car, and Grace couldn't help but laugh a little at the memories. It hadn't been funny then, but now that it was over, she could look back and laugh at how ridiculous it was that Jane had been driving while he was blind and she had been trying to guide him with her hands handcuffed behind her back.

"You know, despite your experience with me and driving your car, I am quite a safe driver." Jane said almost as if he were reading her mind.

"It never ceases to amaze me how you do that." Grace said just shaking her head.

They arrived at the CBI offices with plenty of time to spare before they were supposed to be going inside for work. "So, what do you think we should do? I mean, you know Rigsby's going to be mad, going to tell someone." Grace looked nervously at Jane, not sure what to do.

"Just act like normal my dear. If Rigsby starts anything, and I don't think he will at work, we'll just handle it then." He reached over and caressed her check, bringing his lips to hers for a tender kiss.

He went to pull away, knowing that she probably wouldn't want to get caught kissing him at work, but to his surprise, she reached her hands up and pulled his face closer, running her hands through his hair, stilling them at the base of his neck and playing with the fine curls there. She ran her tongue across his lips and Jane found he was powerless to her wants. He slowly opened his mouth to let her tongue in, knowing that the slow pace would just get her even more riled up. He was just starting to really enjoy himself when she pulled away suddenly.

"We should _not_ be doing this at work." She said panting slightly, her face burning red at the thought that someone could have seen them. "Come on lets go."

They entered the building and went through security. It wasn't uncommon for members of the team to go through security together, so no one who saw them thought anything of it. If they were standing perhaps a little closer than normal, no one said anything either. You never knew what was going on with Patrick Jane, and most people just chocked it up to another one of his silly pranks. When they reached the bullpen, Jane immediately headed for his couch; they _were_ going to act like it was any other normal day after all. Grace was headed toward the break room to put milk in her coffee when Lisbon stopped her in the hallway along with Cho and a very reluctant Rigsby.

"The division's being audited again, here have a file" Lisbon said handing her a file along with one for Cho and Rigsby. Grace smiled at her taking the file.

"Sure no problem. Let me just put milk in this and I'll dig in." She walked to wards the break room smiling slightly as she passed the window to the bullpen and saw Jane laying on his couch, eyes closed and a peaceful happy look on his face.

"What's with her, why is she so happy this morning?" Cho asked with a slight disdain as he walked towards his desk.

Rigsby growled slightly under his breath then spoke up in a mocking tone. "Notice her relaxed body langue, the general sense of emotional satisfaction? Someone's engaged her romantic interest."

"What are you Jane now? No way she's dating someone again. I'd have sworn off dating if I were her. Her last boyfriend tried to kill her."

"Then I'd have to assume that the man who was kissing her last night was making an embarrassing mistake." Rigsby growled at Cho, not so loudly as to be noticed by the casual observer, but loud enough for Cho to hear.

Cho was struck with the strangest feeling of déjà vu, not that he would tell Rigsby that. Instead he just snorted at him. Cho sat down at his desk, wasn't like him to have the same conversation twice. He was a man of few words, and he liked it that way. "What, are you stalking her like a chicken now?" He asked throwing Rigsby's own words from a few weeks ago back at him. "Who'd you see her kissing any way?" Cho asked, he liked the gossip as much as the next person, he just wouldn't admit it.

Rigsby didn't answer; he just looked at Cho with a pained expression on his face. "Have you seen Jane this morning? I didn't see his car in the parking lot."

"He's probably late, I'm sure Lisbon will get a hold of him if she needs him." Cho dead paned, looking back at the file on his desk, deciding he was just going to ignore the clearly jealous Rigsby. Really, he'd had his chance with Grace more times than he could count, and Cho didn't feel sorry for him in the least that she was dating another guy.

Grace came in and sat at her desk with her coffee. Reading through the file and humming softly to herself. She was happy. She was in the beginning of a relationship with one of the most adorable men in the state of California. And, it would seem that Rigsby had either not noticed Jane, or had decided that he was not worth messing with. She was glad of this because he could almost feel him smirking from where he lay on his couch. She had heard the last part of the conversation, and knew that Rigsby and Cho had been discussing her. She couldn't help it if she was in a good mood; she had just kissed a very attractive man, and was looking forward to more of the same when they got off work tonight.

The four of them stayed in the bullpen all morning, not doing much more than reading through files and attempting to find flaws in them. This time there was no conveniently placed bomb threat to alleviate the menial task. It was almost lunch time when Lisbon finally emerged from her office. Face buried in a file to remind the team to eat, and to recommend to them to go outside and get some fresh air. That's what she was going to do, her boyfriend in the AG's office had packed a picnic for them, and they were going to go to the nearby park to enjoy it.

"You know Jane," she said standing in the door way, not looking up from her file, "You can help us go through these files, it is allowed for you to do actual work."

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass." He said sitting up from where he's been laying all morning, hoping that Rigsby wouldn't notice him. He liked his nose the shape it was and didn't think it would be able to survive being broken again. But, now that Lisbon had drawn attention to him, there was little he could do to keep Rigsby from knowing he was there. "Going out to lunch today?" He asked Lisbon with a smile. Grace looked up and noticed it was teasing smile #2, very close to smug smile #2, but slightly friendlier.

"Yes, I am actually. You guys should do the same." She said addressing the whole room. She noticed the excited look in Graces eye but didn't call her on it. Her personal life was her own business. She had noticed that Jane and Grace had come in at the same time today, and that his car wasn't parked in the parking lot, and assumed that those two things were connected.

"Good idea boss, I think I will. See you after lunch." Grace stood and grabbed her bag from her desk drawer, glancing over at Jane. Jane looked over at Rigsby and quickly stood up.

"You know what Van Pelt; I think I'll join you if you don't mind." He said walking after her.

Rigsby glared at Jane. _Coward._ He thought, debating if he should get up and follow them, crash their lunch, stop them from doing whatever they had been doing the night before.

"Hey, let's grab lunch man." Cho said interrupting Rigsby's thoughts about what type of harm he could be inflicting on Jane right now.

"Fine, but I'm driving." He said grabbing his keys.

Lisbon was having a nice lunch. Her boyfriend had packed a very nice lunch and they were sitting on a blanket at the park, eating and talking. She was going in for a kiss when she saw something out of the corner of her eye that caused her to gasp and her jaw to drop. There was no way she was seeing what she thought she saw. She turned and faced the couple straight on. Yep, she was seeing what she thought she was. Jane and Van Pelt were sitting on the grass, under a tree. Well, really, Van Pelt was sitting in Jane's lap, and they were making out like a couple of teenagers. No wonder she had been so eager to get out of the office for lunch.


	2. Tuesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks to demonbunny7 for reading through this for me. As she didn't say it was crappy, I'm going to assume that it is safe for every one to read. Thanks to all who reviewed.

Grace woke and stretched lazily. Despite the fact that she had slept in her own bed the night before, she was not nearly as well rested as she had been the previous morning. The reason for that was simple, no Patrick Jane. She had sent him home when it became clear that if he stayed at her place again that night, very little sleeping would occur. She was holding firm to her rule, no second base until after he took her on a real date, and certainly no home run.

She smiled as she thought of his puppy dog look. He had used it plenty last night, but she hadn't given in. He had promised her that tonight they would go out for dinner and a movie, her choice. He had given her seductive smile #2, it was basically seductive smile #1 with a little smirk #3, when he said that after the movie they could drive up to the hills and look at the stars.

She thought of him as she dressed in her favorite skirt and button up white shirt. If she left an extra button open, she did it subconsciously. She just wanted to look good. She wore her hair down, slightly curling the ends like she knew he liked. He had told her several times the night before that he loved her long red hair.

She was smiling as she walked into the CBI office building with her morning coffee. It was going to be a good day. She sat at her desk picking up the file she had left off with the night before. Jane wasn't in yet, which didn't surprise her. He was often late arriving in the morning.

"Good morning everyone!" A voice called out. Grace suppressed a smile recognizing the voice.

"Hey coffee." Cho said walking past Grace to where Jane was standing. "Thanks man."

"For you my dear." Jane whispered in Grace's ear placing a cup on the desk in front of her. His breath tickled her skin and made her shiver slightly.

"Thanks Jane." She said not looking up, feeling her face flush slightly.

"Rigsby my man, one for you." Jane went to put one on Rigsby's desk.

"Not on your life." He said not looking up from the file he was looking at.

"Ok." Jane said quietly. "Is our fearless boss in her office?" He asked aloud.

"Your fearless boss is waiting for her coffee." Lisbon said form the doorway. Jane smiled his special smile that he seemed to reserve just for Lisbon as he handed her a coffee. Grace fought down the sick jealous feeling that grew in the pit of her stomach at the display. She knew Lisbon was dating someone else, but still couldn't help feeling jealous at the attention that Jane always gave the boss. "We have a case."

"Really? What is it?" Rigsby asked a little too eagerly. If he had to spend another day cooped up in this office with the two love birds…Well, he wouldn't be responsible for his actions.

"Don't get too excited. It's most likely a suicide." Lisbon said taking a drink of her coffee.

"Then why are we looking into it?" Cho asked throwing his file onto the desk.

"Apparently the victim's family has friends in high places. This one came down straight from the AG's office. Grab your stuff; we've got a two hour drive ahead of us."

The ride to the small town was uneventful. The only one who seemed to have a problem was Rigsby. He kept mumbling under his breath about the whole trip being a waste of time. They had taken two cars even though they could have all fit into one. It was obvious to everyone that the victim had indeed committed suicide, and it didn't take them long to wrap up their "investigation".

Lisbon was eager to get back to the city, and left soon after they decided that there was nothing that they could do there. Cho and Rigsby elected to come back with her. Cho because he thought that every small town looked the same and Rigsby because he had no desire to be around Jane and Grace. He didn't trust himself to not do something stupid.

"So I do believe I owe you a real first date." Jane said to Grace as they walked side by side down the street after the rest of the team left. He reached out and grabbed her hand in his, liking the feel of her warm hand against his own.

"Yes, dinner and a movie, but there's no movie theater in town. So what are you going to do?" Grace was playing with him, he knew it, and he liked it. In the days since their first kiss she had become much more of a tease, and Jane found that he liked that side of her.

"Movie theater no, but they show a classic in the park every night. I was thinking we could grab dinner 'to go' from that little diner just up the way and have a picnic in the park while watching the movie." He intertwined his fingers with hers, caressing the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Sounds great." She said moving closer to him. They picked up burgers and fries at the diner and headed over to the park on foot to watch the movie. They were able to snag the last available park bench with a view of the large screen that had been set up.

The movie was a classic in black and white. Neither of them recognized it, but that was ok. They were just enjoying each others company. They sat much like they had the last time they watched a movie, close together with their arms around each other. It was late when the movie ended, and with a two hour drive ahead of them, Van Pelt headed straight to the car.

"Don't you want to stick around for a little bit? I do recall I promised to take you star gazing." He flashed her boyish grin #1, sweet and playful, trying to get her to slow down and just enjoy their time together.

"We have a two hour drive Jane, we should head back. We can do star gazing tomorrow night." She smiled sweetly at him, knowing that she had won this one. To her surprise; she had found that she had a small amount of power over him in certain areas.

The ride back to Sacramento was entertaining. They talked about everything it seemed. Jane asked questions about her family, her likes and her dislikes. To her credit, she tried to get the same information from him, but he always managed to redirect the conversation back to her when it started to get uncomfortable for him.

They got back to the CBI very late. "Should we car pool to work tomorrow?" Jane asked waggling his eyebrows at Grace.

"Maybe, but we live on opposite sides of town, you'd have to get up pretty early to pick me up to get to work on time." She smirked at him as they walked towards her car.

"Or, I could just come over to your place tonight." He looked at her face for a second, nervous. "I'd sleep on the sofa of course, no funny business." He held his hands up in front of his chest as if to show he wasn't hiding anything. They had reached her SUV and Grace turned to look at him.

"Well, maybe that would work." She had a sudden thought and turned to face him, taking a step towards him so that he was pressed up against the car much as he had done to her just a few days ago. "Don't forget," she whispered in his ear, "I have a gun."

She backed away chuckling slightly at his obvious distraction. Paying such close attention to Lisbon was paying off. She looked at her watch as she stepped into her SUV, just after midnight, it was Wednesday.


	3. Wednesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I posted a new chapter of "Say it With a Smile" as a Mothers Day gift to myself. But i was thinking, this is so much more fun and fluffy, and SWS is just so not, especially right now, that I would post this. SO to all the mothers out there who are reading this-Happy Mothers Day! Oh, and a special thanks to demonbunny7 who betaed this for me.

Grace had barely closed the door to her apartment when Jane pressed her up against it and crushed his lips to hers. It was a forceful kiss that almost seemed to say "I've wanted to do this all day". It didn't take long for Grace to begin to kiss him back, grasping his shoulders in her hands. She nibbled and sucked on his lower lip slightly until he opened his mouth and brushed his tongue against hers. His hands were on her hips and her moans made him pull her closer, crushing her to him.

He started to let his hands roam up her back and to the top of her neck. Grace was making similar movements, but her hands were going lower until she reached the belt of his pants and stopped. She tore her lips from his, and panting slightly, started to feather kisses against his jaw and down his neck. She remembered how sensitive the spot behind his ear had been and began working her way towards it, scraping her teeth against his neck and sucking slightly as she went.

Jane felt his knees start to buckle slightly. She was driving him crazy and he had to sit before his legs collapsed on him. He started walking backwards towards where he knew the sofa was. He wasn't really paying attention and his legs hit the back of the sofa, causing him to fall over it, taking her with him.

Grace began to laugh as they tried to detangle their limbs from each other. This had not gone as he had planned and he was not finding this nearly as funny as Grace was. "What's so funny?" He asked gruffly.

"Just trying to ease the tension, _Patrick._ " She purred at him managing to get her arms out from underneath him. As soon as her limbs were free she picked up where she had left off, arms on his waist, lips on his neck. She pulled his shirt out of his pants where it had been tucked in and, removing her lips form his neck so she could see what she was doing, began to unbutton his shirt.

Jane felt his breath catch in his throat as she began undoing the buttons; the look in her eyes was one of pure lust and need. She pushed the shirt aside as she came to the last button and drank in the sight before her. He was amazingly trim for someone who spent all their time lying on a couch and got winded chasing suspects. She bent down and began to kiss at his neck again, knowing by his moans how much he enjoyed it. She moved lower trailing kisses across his chest, enjoying the firmness of the muscles.

Jane reached down to where her shirt was tucked into her pants and tugged until it came free. He slid his hand up the back of her shirt. This time it was her turn to have her breath catch in her throat as she felt his hands on her bare skin for the first time. She brought her mouth back up to his as he started drawing small circles along her back, slowly working his way around to her stomach.

He pushed her into a sitting position so that they were both facing each other. They continued kissing as Grace pushed his shirt off his shoulders. He shrugged the rest of the way out of it, finding it hard to concentrate with what she was doing with her tongue. He reached his hands up further under the material, trying to reach her breasts, but found that her shirt was too tight for him to get past her ribs. At his frustrated groan, Grace broke off the kiss and laughed slightly at his predicament.

"Patience is a virtue Patrick." She said pushing him back down slightly and straddling his lap. She slowly began to unbutton her shirt for him, knowing that it was driving him crazy watching her. Once she was finished, she shrugged it off of her shoulders, leaning back down and bringing her lips back to his. The touch of her bare skin against his was marred only by her thin lace bra. She had chosen it specifically knowing that this was going to be happening.

She began to kiss him again, not on the lips, but in what was becoming her favorite spot behind his ear. He was drawing lazy circles on her back with his fingers, slowly getting closer to that frustrating strap that was still blocking his access to her breasts. It had been so long, he didn't know if he would remember how to take one off. Trying to concentrate as Grace was nibbling at his neck he managed to unhook the clasp and, in one swift motion, flipped her over on the sofa so that he was now on top of her and pulled her bra off of her the rest of the way.

He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity. Grace could feel herself blushing at his scrutiny and started to wiggle underneath him. "Patience is a virtue Grace." He said with a smirk, leaning down and kissing her gently. He slowly started to work his way down her body, trailing wet kisses over her neck and down between her breasts. He slowly began to kiss and lick one and then the other, massaging the one not getting the attention of his mouth with his hand. He could feel her breathing pick up and her heart beating in her chest.

She started moaning at his ministrations, and Jane started to trail his other hand down her body. He rested his hand on her hip and remembered that she was wearing a skirt. He brought his hand down to the hem and started to work his way up the inside of her thigh.

Her breath caught in her chest and she stiffened slightly. "Patrick." She said more breathlessly that she had planned. Jane stopped, looking at her face, into her eyes. "Stop, ok?" She said timidly reaching down and placing her hand on top of his, still under her skirt.

He slowly pulled his hand away from her legs, but didn't get off of her. "Patrick, we need to slow down, ok? Not tonight, just not tonight ok?" She was trying to be gentle, but could tell that he was slightly confused, his mind still muddled by the desire and lust. She slowly slipped out from underneath him, pulling his shirt off the floor and slipping it on her shoulders.

"I'm going to go to bed now, ok. I'll see you in the morning." She bent down and gave him one more kiss before standing up and walking into her bed room shutting the door behind her. Jane sighed heavily, and leaned back further into the sofa. He had never pegged Grace as a flirt and tease, but here he was, up a creek without a paddle. He turned on her TV and lowered the volume; he doubted he would get any sleep that night.

Grace decided not to wear her pajamas tonight, deciding instead to sleep in the shirt she had pulled off the floor. She liked the smell of it, the faint smell of his cologne clung to it and she found that she was actually relaxing better with the smell around her. She felt bad for stopping Jane, she really did. She had wanted him so much, but she just couldn't do it. She just wasn't that type of girl that had sex on the first date, or the second for that matter. And she definitely didn't do it on the sofa the first time. She wanted to go out there and explain to him why she had stopped him, tell him it was her, she wasn't ready. Not that she didn't want to.

She heard the sound of the TV in the living room and knew that Jane was probably going to be up all night. She felt a little guilty, she knew he had sleeping problems, she had known it from the first day she met him. But she knew that by waiting, it would be that much better when it did happen.

Lisbon was watching Grace and Jane from her office. There was something off about them today. Jane seemed anxious, and, if possible, a little horny. They had been working on the paper work from the sham of a case they had been sent to the day before. Cho had gotten bored, and instead of just reading his book, he had gone out and gotten food for the team. It was mostly for Rigsby's benefit she knew, but it was still a nice gesture. In the bag of food he had brought back had been a box of popsicles. Grace was the only one eating one right now, not liking any of the other snacks Cho had brought. This had been what had drawn Lisbon's attention.

She was sure Grace didn't realize what she was doing, but the way in which she was eating the Popsicle was rather suggestive. She had seen Grace and Jane in the park on Monday, and knew that they were obviously seeing each other. So it didn't surprise her that Jane was barely able to mask the raw want in his gaze at her. Most people wouldn't have even realized that he was staring, but Lisbon had been working with him long enough to notice.

She glanced over at Rigsby, expecting him to be staring at Grace as well, but was surprised to see that he was instead, staring at Jane, and the look on his face was one of strong dislike. Not hate, but something close. She wondered if he knew. He had to, to be ignoring Grace.

As she was watching, Rigsby stood up suddenly, walking past Grace's desk towards Jane. She got out of her chair, ready to intervene in case things got out of hand, but all Rigsby did was lean over Jane and whisper something in his ear. And then he went back to his desk. Lisbon just shook her head. That was odd. She wondered what it was about, but decided not to push the matter. As long as they kept it out of the office, she wasn't going to worry about it.


	4. Thursday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case any of you reading this also read "Say it With a Smile", good news, I found my flash drive! Yea! Now I can continue to torture you all (insert evil laugh here). Anyway, thanks for all the fabulous reviews, and to demonbunny7, so is an absolutely phenomenal beta, and fast too. I guess that's what a 16 hour time difference will do for you. I go to bed and wake up with new chapters to post, I love it.

Jane laid on his couch at the CBI headquarters. It was late, or rather, very, very early. He had wanted to be with Grace tonight, but she had told him in no uncertain terms that she had choir practice and then she was going to come home and go to bed early. And when he showed up at her apartment he had found her gone with a note taped to the door. He flexed his hand where the note was and pulled it up to look at it, hoping for the millionth time that it would show something different

P,  
I bet you thought I was kidding. I will be going to bed early tonight. I will see you at work tomorrow. Take me out on another date and we'll see where it goes. We never did get to go star gazing last night.  
G

He sighed. Nope, still the same. He had hoped that she wasn't going to shut him out, but it wasn't looking good. She was just so beautiful, and her skin had been so soft and warm. He knew that she had only promised him that she would go so far, but he had held out hope. He should have realized that she wouldn't be the kind of woman who would do it on the sofa on the first time. He should have taken her into the bed room, not to the sofa.

Mentally cursing himself for trying to take it faster than she had agreed with, he thought back to earlier and that Popsicle. It was clear that she hadn't realized what she was doing. She wasn't a tease; she was too sweet and innocent to be a tease. He was sure given time he could change that, but wasn't sure he wanted to. She was just too sweet.

He closed his eyes and let his mind drift to the afternoon before. The Popsicles. Cho, bless him, had brought Popsicles and Grace decided to eat one. And oh, how she ate it. He groaned thinking about it. And then Rigsby came to his mind. He hadn't meant to be staring at her like that; he didn't think anyone would notice. But Rigsby had.

" _Keep looking at her like that little man, see if you make it out of here today"_

That's all he said, a barely veiled threat. Jane told himself that wasn't the reason why he was sleeping on the couch at CBI tonight, but knew it was the truth. In actuality he had just gotten used to sleeping with Grace, either in her arms or in the same house as her, and was finding it impossible to sleep now. He sighed, hoping that his mind would stop working so that he could get some rest.

He felt a warm breath on his check and smiled. He didn't open his eyes, but reached out to stroke the face he was sure was right there. When he felt hard jagged muscles and not soft, smooth skin, his eyes flew open. "Rigsby!" He croaked out. "What are you doing here so early?"

"In the dog house Jane?" Rigsby asked standing up from where he had been crouched next to Jane. "What are you doing sleeping on the couch at work?"

Jane could tell that he was amused at him not being with Van Pelt. "No, she had plans tonight. I don't need to be with her every waking moment."

"Be with whom?" Cho asked walking into the room catching the tail end of their conversation.

"His new girlfriend." Rigsby answered before Jane could say anything.

Cho just looked at him and shook his head. Jane dating, there was now much less hope for the rest of them.

Rigsby didn't say anything more on the subject and they just sat there doing their regular work while waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. Jane was lying on his couch when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He could tell by the sound of them that it was Grace, and he said a silent mantra in his head as she approached. _Please not a skirt, please not a skirt._

"Good morning Jane, how are you doing today?" He opened his eyes and looked up at her smiling.

"Good morning Van Pelt, I'm doing well, yourself?" He was keeping it polite and formal, following her lead.

"I brought you some tea, I hope you like it." She placed a cup on the table next to him then walked to her desk. Jane watched her leave, noting thankfully that she was indeed not wearing a skirt today, but instead a nice pair of black pants. He smiled slightly and sat up to pick up his tea, noticing that she had left behind a note written on a napkin.

P,  
Tonight, 7:00, my place. Don't be late.  
G

He smiled; this was going to be a good day.

At 6:58 Jane pulled up outside her apartment and went up to her door. He knocked quickly, waiting for her to answer. He had gone home and changed into a simple pair of jeans and a casual button down shirt. He had figured that they were going to be going star gazing, as promised, and hoped that his outfit would be ok. He swallowed hard when she opened the door and he tried not to stare.

"Have I told you lately how gorgeous you are?" He asked lazily looking her up and down. She was wearing a similar outfit to his own, a causal pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a loose braid and she was smiling shyly at him.

"Thanks, you don't look to bad yourself." She said stepping aside so he could enter.

"What are the plans for the night?" He asked leaning up against the back of the sofa that had been the cause of so much pleasure and pain just a few nights ago.

"I was thinking we could go on a picnic up to the hills, and then do a little star gazing." She smiled sweetly at him. It was all he could do not to take her in his arms right now and kiss her senseless. As it was he walked up to her and placed his arms around her waist giving her a tender kiss. He broke it off without trying to deepen it; there would be time for that later.

"That sounds like a good idea." He said quietly letting her go.

"I'll grab the blanket if you can get the basket." She said pointing to the basket by the door.

"You have a picnic basket, how sweet." He said in a teasing tone as he released her and picked it up. "Are you driving?"

"Of course, you don't know where we're going."

They loaded up her jeep and drove towards the hills on the outskirts of town. The ride was pleasant, and they didn't feel the need to talk as they drove. Grace pulled off the main road onto an unpaved path. Jane was about to question if she knew where she was going, but decided that it wouldn't be a good idea. They drove for probably 5 miles before the road opened up into a clearing.

"It's beautiful, how did you know this was here?" Jane asked as he got out of the car and looked around.

"One of the women at church told me about it. She said she comes up here with her husband and kids all the time for picnics on the weekends." They laid the blanket down on the grass and unpacked the meal Grace had prepared. It was standard picnic fair. Fried chicken and potato salad, with fresh fruit and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. They left the lights on in her car so that they could see until they finished eating. The conversation was easy, with Jane asking about her family and Grace joking with him about the magic tricks he was always doing at work. When they were done, they packed back up the basket and put it in the car. They turned the lights off and lay on the blanket looking up at the stars.

"When I was a little girl we used to go camping. My favorite thing was to sit on the tail gate of my dad's old pickup and tell stories about the stars. I'd make up stories about the planets that would orbit the far off stars and what life might be like. My brother would always laugh at me say that there was no way I could know that. He preferred to make up stories about the consolations." Grace knew she was rambling, but couldn't help it. She was nervous. "Did you ever do anything like that?"

Jane pulled her closer and nuzzled his head into her neck. "I used to pretend that I was an astronaut. I'd fly into the night and look at the stars up close. I would pretend that I was Captain Kirk, piloting the Enterprise." He chuckled slightly at the memory, "I thought he was so cool."

They sat in comfortable silence, watching the stars and marveling about how many more were visible without the lights of the city. Jane felt Grace shift slightly beside him and knew she was going to mention the other night.

"Patrick, about the other night." She said, clearly nervous. "I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry if I lead you on, I didn't mean too."

He pushed himself up on one elbow, looking her in the eyes. "Grace, I would never want to you feel uncomfortable around me, never. I understand if you want to wait. I'm in no rush."

"Thanks for understanding." She said. She reached her arms up and wrapped them around her neck, pulling him down on top of her and pressing her lips to his. She had always liked the great outdoors, and thought that now was a good a time as any to show Jane just how much.


	5. Friday Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my first attempt at out right smut. Please note the rating change, if any one is offended by this sort of thing, just don't read it. That being said, I would appreciate honest feedback on this. I know I don't normally ask for reviews, but this is the first time I've done something like this, so, yea. Let me know what worked and what didn't. Thanks to demonbunny7 for the beta, and Ebony10 for the courage to actually post this.

Grace pressed her lips to Jane's. It didn't seem to matter how often in the past few days she had kissed him; she never got tired of that tingling warm feeling that spread throughout the body with the first touch of his lips to hers. She moved her lips against his, gently scraping her teeth across his lower lip, pulling it into her mouth and sucking on it slightly. She heard him moan against her mouth and she couldn't help but smile. She loved the reaction she got from him.

She opened her mouth to him, allowing his tongue to enter and battle with hers. She was moving her hands through his hair, never tired of the feel of his smooth locks in her hands. Jane was caressing her face, and Grace moved one of her hands down his back, scraping slightly with her fingers and enjoying Jane's obvious shivers. When she reached the waist band of his jeans, she slowly reached under the hem of his shirt and made the same journey back up with her hands.

She broke off the kiss and began to feather kisses along his jaw line in the same pattern as the night before, knowing that it drove him crazy. She kissed the tender spot behind his ear and smirked slightly at the moan that came from deep in his throat. She could feel his excitement building and decided that she needed to do something about it.

In one quick movement she rolled them both over so that she was now on top, straddling his waist. She gave him one last lingering kiss before sitting upright and looking deep into his eyes. Slightly nervous because she had never done anything quite like this before, she bit her bottom lip and tried to gage his mood from watching him.

After what seemed like hours but was really just a few seconds, she smiled slightly at him and slowly pulled her t-shirt over her head. She placed it gently down next to them on the blanket, knowing that she didn't want to have to go searching for it in the dark. She looked back down at Jane and noticed, that while not smiling per say, he did have a look of pure lust on his face as he looked up at her dressed in only her thin white lacy bra.

He sat there, pinned under her, watching her. Seeing her undressing, and just for him, caused a yearning in him that he hadn't felt in ages. He wanted to touch her so badly, but was afraid of what would happen if he did. There was no place to go here, she wouldn't be able to shut him out, and she wouldn't be able to run away. Until he was sure what she wanted, he wasn't going to do anything he wouldn't be able to stop.

Grace was studding his face, trying to figure out what he was thinking. She could feel his excitement and arousal pressing against her, and knew what he wanted. She knew he was hesitating for her benefit, but tonight she was ready. She reached down and picked up his hands. She studied them; they were soft and smooth. She remembered how they had felt against her skin, and craved that sort of contact with him again.

She kissed the palms of his hands, first his right, then his left, ignoring the thin metal band there, and placed them on her stomach. Almost of their own accord they started inching upwards towards the white lace covering her chest. When he reached the bottom of her bra he paused, his eyes never leaving hers, waiting for her to show him a sign that it wasn't ok. He moved his hands up, cupping her breasts through her bra, the material soft and rough at the same time on his hands. His hands reached around the back, when he didn't see any objection he reached up to unclasp her bra. It had been ages since he had done that, but he still managed to do it with relative ease.

Grace reached up and pulled her bra off her shoulders, placing it with her shirt. Jane drank in the sight of her, sitting there on top of him. A slight breeze was blowing, causing a few stray stands of her hair to blow into her face.

"You're beautiful." He said reaching up and tucking the hair behind her ear. He wondered how he had gotten so lucky; he moved his hands around the back of her neck and pulled her down to him, pressing a kiss to his lips. Grace moved her hands down his chest, unbuttoning his shirt while their tongues battled.

He rocked back and forth gaining momentum so that he could roll her over on to her back. Not removing his lips form hers he pulled off his shirt and threw it in the general direction of her neat pile, not nearly as concerned with having to find them later as she had been.

He broke off the kiss then, moving his lips down her throat, trailing hot wet kisses where he went. He trailed kisses between her breasts, getting close but not actually touching them. He knew it was driving her crazy, but he was enjoying it. She was wiggling beneath him, trying to get his mouth to go where she wanted. She moved her hands up to the sides of his head, grabbing hand fulls of his hair, and attempting to guide his head towards the already erect tip of her breast. He chuckled slightly, a deep and arousing sound at her impatience. This was a very different woman than the one the other night.

Her barely uttered plea finally spurred him into action as he finally let his mouth meet her nipple, tugging on it slightly with his teeth. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to elicit a moan from her. He gently massaged her other breast with his hand, and then switched his attentions. His mouth left her breasts, again trailing kisses down her ribs to her stomach.

There she was squirming again, and he smiled against her stomach. He sat up then, hands resting on the waist of her jeans, looking at her as if asking permission. She nodded her head, and Jane began to unbutton them, not breaking his gaze from hers. He slowly brought the zipper of her pants down.

Grace rolled her eyes at him "If you don't get a move on Patrick, I may just change my mind." She said bucking her hips underneath him, knowing that she was going to get him right where it counted most.

He chuckled slightly at her impatience, who would have guessed? He quickly finished undoing her pants, and pulled them off of her leaving her lying there in just her white lace panties. He smiled; she had worn a matching set, she had planned for this to happen. He was a little more careful with where he placed her pants, he didn't want her losing them. He placed his hands on her hips, slightly nervous, he wasn't sure if he should be doing this, this was Grace, sweet precious Grace.

As if sensing his hesitation, she pulled him down on top of her, kissing his neck, right behind the ear. She reached down between their bodies and undid his pants. She started pushing them off his hips, causing her hips to wiggle underneath him.

"You drive me crazy Grace. How did I get so lucky?" He mumbled, switching positions with her so he could nuzzle her neck. He helped her out, kicking his legs to help remove his pants, not paying attention when they went flying.

Grace could feel his erection in full force now, pressing against her thigh and reached down to cup him through his boxers, stroking him, causing his breath to catch in his throat. He moaned her name and she smiled, knowing that she could be causing his want.

Jane moved his lips to hers kissing her roughly, wanting to show her just what she was doing to him. He pulled away from her, slowly moving to a kneeling position just off to the side of her. Taking her in, "Absolutely beautiful."

Without warning he reached down and laid a hand over her warm sensitive parts. He could feel the warmth radiating from her and reached his hand under the waist band of her panties. His fingers slowly made their way to her core, purposely missing her most sensitive spot, going to rest his hand over her, just leaving it sitting there. Her groan and bucking hips caused his hand to slip, and press against her. Slowly he stoked her, smiling as she shuddered underneath him.

"Patrick" she moaned, "I want my first time with you to be _with_ you." He stopped his stoking, looking at her with slight confusion. He gasped as he felt her hands on him, realizing what she wanted. He smiled at her, quickly pulling his boxers off and tossing them in the general direction of his pants and moved so he was over her.

He began to move towards her, getting ready to enter her, when she placed a hand on his chest. "Wait." She reached out and grabbed her pants where they lay next to them and pulled out a small metal packet. "Always take precautions Patrick."

He smiled at her when she was done, finally allowing her to guide him to her opening. They both gasped when he entered her, it had been such a long time for her, longer for him, and they had both forgot how amazing it could feel. They set a steady rhythm together; she wrapped her legs around his waist and rocked against him to the time of his thrusts.

He could feel himself getting close; he was trying to hold back, not wanting to leave her wanting. He studied her face, noticed the pleasure written across it, and felt her tightening around him. He kept watching as she tensed up, gasping loudly, and it pushed him over the edge. They lay next to each other on the blanket when they had finished, panting and holding each other close.

"So, you won't do it on the sofa, but you'll do it outside?" Jane asked a few minutes later.

"My first time was in the hay field on my boyfriend's farm. It was the Fourth of July and we had been watching the fireworks." She smiled slightly at the memory. "I've had a thing for the wild outdoors ever since."

Jane smiled at her, looking over. "So, we should go camping sometime; spend a whole weekend under the stars."

It was her turn to smile at him. "We should get back, we both have to be to work in-" She looked at her watch, "Less than six hours. Get dressed." She stood and walked over to her neat pile of clothes and re dressed while Jane watched. "Less time leering and more time dressing Patrick." She said, gesturing to his cloths that were strewn around the blanket.

"Hey, you think you could turn the car lights on so that I could see? I think I lost my shirt."


	6. Friday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus point to any one who can guess the book Cho is reading. Well, not the book, but the series. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to demonbunny7 for the beta.

Cho sat at his desk. For once the first one there. It was unusual, but he took advantage of it to catch up on his reading. When he had left off the day before, Rincewind had been trapped in a corner and the luggage was causing mayhem to ensue as he ate all the city guard. He was just getting to the part where Rincewind was thinking of a spell to use, when a large thump sounded from the next desk over. Reluctantly lowering his book, Cho looked over to see what had caused the noise.

Rigsby sighed heavily, looking depressed and defeated. "Jane and Van Pelt aren't here yet?" He asked Cho, not looking at him.

"No. Why?" Cho asked keeping his voice neutral. People might think that he was devoid of emotions, but he wasn't, he just hid them well. He was also very observant, not as good as Jane, but still. He had noticed the odd way that Van Pelt and Jane had been acting all week. It wasn't anything big, but still he noticed.

"I knew it." The big man practically howled. "How could they do it?"

"Do what?" Cho asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He put his book mark back in the book, making Rincewind wait to be saved by a large wooden trunk.

"I can't talk about it man, I can't think about it." Rigsby sank lower in his chair; he was already practically on the floor. It was as if he wanted to slide under his desk and hide.

Just as Cho was about to press for more, the very people they had been talking about entered the room. You would have to be blind to not notice the change between the two of them. Grace had the same sweet upbeat air about her that she'd had all week. Jane however, would have to be described as glowing. If Cho didn't know better, he'd think that Grace was wearing a man's dress shirt, but he dismissed it as silly.

Grace came in and sat at her desk, a happy satisfied look on her face as she booted up her computer and started to check her e-mail. Cho glanced at Rigsby and noticed that he hadn't taken his eyes off Jane since he walked in. He watched as Rigsby followed the consultant with his eyes, watching as he made his way to the bathroom. Almost without warning, Rigsby jumped out of his chair.

"Coffee Cho? No, ok, I'll be right back." And he headed down the hall, not towards the break room, but in the same direction that Jane had just walked in. Cho just shook his head. The man was off his rocker. He picked back up the book, preparing to read about a man eating piece of luggage.

Jane stood in the bathroom happily going about his business. He had just finished up and was washing his hands when the door slammed open and a very large, very angry Wayne Rigsby entered. Jane tried not to let his panic show on his face, he knew this was coming, and still he wasn't prepared for it.

"Good morning Rigsby." Jane said, careful to keep his voice neutral. Rigsby walked towards Jane causing him to back up until he was against the wall. "How was your night?"

"You had sex with her." It wasn't a question, but Jane felt the need to answer it anyway.

"Yes, we had sex. She and I together, two consenting adults." He could see the anger flash in Rigsby's eyes. Why couldn't he just have kept his mouth shut for once.

"You slept with her. In her apartment?" The last part was a question and Jane shook his head to say no. "What, in your house then?" Jane shook his head again.

"In a clearing in the woods, very romantic." Jane said and cursed himself again when he saw the blood rising in Rigsby's face. He was a little taken aback when Rigsby turned away and was therefore not prepared when Rigsby's fist connected with his nose. "What the hell Rigsby!"

"Brutal streak, I couldn't help it. I don't need to know where it happened; I just can't believe you would do that with her man. I thought we were friends." He clearly had lost control of his emotions, as he was now close to tears. Jane walked into one of the stalls to grab a wad of tissue to attempt to stem the flow of blood coming from his nose and ruining his last good white shirt. Grace had commandeered his other two. One the night they had made out on her sofa, and then last night when she found his shirt before he did.

"To be fair, you never really treated Grace with very much love and attention. You kept her on the back burner, taking her for granted, always assuming that she would be there. You went out with other women, even meeting them here at work, as if to flaunt them in front of her. You insulted her, and other than the one kiss while you were hypnotized, never once made a move." Jane was on a roll now, wanting to get some of his pent up frustration at Rigsby out while he was standing there with a tissue to his nose. "You don't really love her. You love the idea of her. Think about it, she's the one woman who turned you down. She was never yours. Face it, she picked me."

Rigsby nodded his head in defeat. Jane was right, he hadn't ever really done anything about the infatuation he'd felt towards Grace, had never seen if it could turn into anything more. His anger somewhat subdued, he looked to Jane. "Sorry about the nose man, I just had to wipe that smug grin off your face."

"It's ok, just, I need ice." He checked to see if the bleeding had stopped and then threw away the used tissue.

"Yea, I know what you mean; you've got a hard head." Rigsby looked down at his hand that was quickly bruising.

They walked out of the bathroom silently agreeing not to say anything about what had transpired. They stood in the kitchen, Rigsby with ice on his knuckles and Jane holding ice to his nose, both silent when Grace entered.

"Oh for crying out loud Patrick. You promised to behave." She gave him an exasperated look.

"I didn't start it!" He said with as much dignity as he could manage while holding ice to his nose.

"No, but you probably didn't help either." She glared at the both of them before storming off to find someplace else to work for the day.

"I guess I've got my work cut out for me tonight." Jane mumbled under his breath. Rigsby couldn't help but laugh. It couldn't have worked out better had he planned it himself.


	7. Saturday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second to last chapter, makes me sad to think about it. Thanks to demonbunny7 for the beta, and to everyone who reviewed.

Jane paced around his house thinking. Grace had told him in no uncertain terms that she was still pissed at him for getting into a fight with Rigsby at work. It seemed she wouldn't have cared nearly as much if it had happened off the clock. In fact she had expected it at some point, but that they got into it at the CBI, well, that had ticked her off.

He had tried to come over to house the night before. She had answered the door wearing only one of his white button up shirts and then told him that he need to find away to make it up to her before he was going to be getting anything from her. They'd only had sex the one time and already he was powerless towards her.

He walked around his kitchen, remembering all the times he had made pancakes for his wife and daughter on Saturday mornings when the thought hit him. He knew how to make it up to her, he would spend the day showing her how much he cared and how much he was sorry that Rigsby had tried to kill him at work. The last one wasn't his fault, but try telling her that.

He made a quick stop at the grocery store, not knowing what she had for his idea to work and headed over to her apartment. He knew she would be sleeping, it was still early after all, and pondered whether he should wake her up or not. In the end he decided to pick her lock and let himself in instead.

He quietly started working in the kitchen, knowing that the smell of the hot, fresh coffee and the cooking bacon would probably wake her up soon. He was sprinkling blueberries on the uncooked side of the pancakes when he heard her voice form the door way of the kitchen.

"I know I locked my door last night, so this right here is breaking and entering. I should arrest you." He turned to look at her, noticing she was still wearing his shirt. He couldn't help but grin. She looked hot in just his shirt; with her hair hanging lose around her shoulders.

"If you want to tie me up, all you have to do is ask." He said coming to her and placing a light kiss on her lips. "Have I told you how gorgeous you are lately?" He asked in a deep voice.

"I'm still mad at you Patrick. So you better bring on the food." She smiled playfully as she sat down at the table to watch him cook, much the same way she had done less than a week before. She shook her head, had it really only been six day since he was here in her apartment cooking her dinner? It seemed so long ago now. It wasn't long before he placed a plate with golden brown blueberry pancakes and bacon on the table in front of her. He placed a steaming mug of coffee fixed just the way she liked it and a large glass of orange juice down next to the plate. He waited until she had taken her first bight before he sat himself. He grinned as she moaned over the pancakes.

"These are heavenly. Thank you." She finished eating while Jane watched, slowly eating his own as well.

"I was thinking we could spend the day together, as an apology for not waiting until after work to let Rigsby punch me in the nose yesterday."

"Sounds like a good idea, what did you have planed?" She drank the last of her orange juice and stood stretching, giving Jane a look of her long legs, making him wish he could just push all the dishes off the table and take her right there.

"It's a surprise, go get ready first." He sighed as he watched her go off to the bed room and groaned when he heard the shower start. The last thing he needed to be doing right now was picturing her naked, soaping up her body…He stopped thinking about it, knowing if he kept it up, it would be a long while before they would be going anywhere. Instead he went down to his car and grabbed the bags that he had brought from his house and from the store.

When she was ready they climbed into Jane's little blue car and drove back towards the country, taking much the same route they had taken the night before. They stopped at a farmers market and Jane smiled as she got out of the car.

"I was thinking we could pick up some things to cook dinner with and maybe pick up lunch too, there's a little Barbeque stand that is just amazing and it even tastes good cold or reheated."

"Sounds like a good idea." Grace responded walking next to him holding his hand. They spent several hours at the farmers market, buying fresh fruits and vegetables to make dinner with, or to just snack on. They stopped at a stand that sold homemade candy and bought a pound of turtle fudge. Grace told Patrick about when she was little had been little and her older brothers had teased her about there being real turtles in the candy. She hadn't eaten it until she was a teenager and by that point, she fell in love with them.

They slowly made their way back to the city when the market closed for the day. They were loaded up with fresh produce and barbeque, the smell of which was causing Jane to drive probably a little faster than needed. They went back to her place and unloaded all the food and put it away. Grace plated the still warm brisket and baked beans while Jane went into the living room.

"I don't usually eat in the living room Jane. I hope you don't think we're going to make a habit of this." She said caring their plates into the living room. She laughed when she saw what had been set up on the coffee table. Jane had probably every board game known to man stacked on or near the table. "Connect four is the game you want to play first? Really?"

"Well, yea. Doesn't take much concentration, so we should be able to play while we eat. We can play Monopoly or Clue when we're done." He said defending his choice.

They played and ate both wining two games each. Laughing and having fun. They decided on monopoly next, and Jane was surprised at the ruthlessness with which she played.

"My little sister is the most serious Monopoly player I have ever met. She will win hands down every time. Only way to even get close is to practice and take it very serious." Grace told him by way of explanation. It was no surprise when, only half an hour into the game, Jane was bankrupt and without a single un-mortgaged property on the board. Rather than dragging out his suffering he declared Grace the winner and chose Clue to play next.

"I used to play this with my dad. He said it was an excuse in truth telling, to see if you could tell when someone was holding the card you wanted. I got very good at this game." Jane shared. He found that being around Grace caused him to want to talk about his life before Red John, and he found that he didn't mind.

Jane was indeed very good at clue, almost better at the board game than he was in real life. They moved quickly through the pile of board games, playing Battle ship, Life, even Trivial Pursuit. They played some that Grace had never heard of.

"Where did you get all these games?" She asked when they took a break.

"We used to have a family game night. At first it was just me and my wife, then when my daughter got older she would play too. I haven't taken these out of that closet, in… well, for a long time."

Grace moved so that she could lean against him and snuggled into his chest. "Thanks for sharing with me Patrick." She said quietly. He brought his arm around her so that he was cradling her. They sat like that for a while until Jane noticed that her breath had slowed and her eyes had closed. She was sleeping. Being careful not to wake her, he slipped out of her grasp, making his way to the kitchen to begin cooking dinner.

It was almost done when he heard a voice from behind him. "You know, keep cooking for me and I may never let you go."

"I'll cook whenever you want me to, as long as you wash the dishes and sing." He said remembering the catalyst for their relationship.

"I can do that." She responded.

They sat down to dinner; a spicy hot concoction that Jane said was inspired by his favorite curry. Grace couldn't believe how good it was, and how many of the fresh vegetables he had managed to use in it. Dessert was fresh berries with cream and as promised, Grace got up when they were done and turned on the radio. She ran the water in the sink, and began to sing, much like she had just the Sunday before.

Jane sat there and stared, it didn't seem to matter how many times he heard her sing, it was still just as amazing to him. He found himself fighting the urge to go over to the sink and sweep her off her feet and take her to the bed room. He waited until she placed the last dish, the pot he had used to cook the curry, in the sink before he did just that.


	8. Sunday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so sad to see this come to an end. I do however have thoughts and plans for a sequel to this sequel, so if anyone wants me to write it, just let me know. How am I kidding, you know I'm going to write it anyway, when have I had the chance to write something and not done it. It's the ship that just wont leave me alone. I was going to wait until latter to post this, but, the finale is on tonight, and I wanted to celebrate.

Grace woke slowly. It was her day off, church didn't start for another three hours and she had the most gorgeous man in the world in her bed. She slowly opened her eyes to look at said man and smiled. It was hard to believe that just last week she was hatching a plan to find out why he had been coming to her church, and now, here he was.

"Good morning gorgeous." He whispered his eyes still closed.

"One of these days I'm going to figure out how you do that." Grace said laughing at him slightly, rolling over to get out of bed. His hand on her stopped her movements. She allowed him to pull her back to him so that he could hold her.

"We finally made it to the bed." She said, nuzzling her neck with his mouth.

"Yeah, we did." They lay in silence for a little while longer, Jane allowing his mouth to wander from her neck to her shoulders and his hands to wander from her waist, up the her breasts and down, lower. She found herself moaning and turned to face him. She still had a few hours yet, it wouldn't matter if they had a little fun first.

She was in the shower again, well of course. She was a naturally clean person. The thought of her in the shower though, it was always enough to do him in. He couldn't help it, imagining her wet glistening body, her rubbing soap all over it. He smiled. There was nothing stopping him from joining her in the shower now, they were sleeping together.

He entered the bathroom quietly, not bothering to announce his presence and stripped down to nothing. He wanted to try to surprise her in the shower, and slowly snaked his hand inside the shower curtain.

"Took you long enough" Grace said, turning and flashing him a grin of her own. He threw her a devilish look before climbing in the shower behind her.

"Crap, Patrick, I have to get ready. I have to be at church in less than an hour and I still need to eat." They were back in the bed, obviously both enjoying being with each other more than anything else.

"You don't have to go today, just tell them that you're sick. It worked last week." He pulled her closer, enjoying the feel of her naked back against his front.

"I can't tell them I'm sick again, besides, isn't my singing in church the whole reason we're even here right now?"

"No, this would have happened eventually, it just might have taken a little longer." She struggled against his hold, and he retaliated by tickling her on the tender spot he had discovered last night.

"Oh, stop! Stop!" She called out, kicking her legs. He did stop when one of her feet made contact with his shin.

Taking advantage of his pain, she quickly stood and walked towards her closet. "You could come with me." She said her back to him as she picked out a conservative skirt and shirt. Not that it would matter much, as she would be in the choir robe, but she still liked to look presentable for church.

"That would require me staying for the whole thing. Besides, I know when you sing, I can always listen to you in the shower." She could hear the mischief in his voice.

"You could, or you could come with me. You don't have to like it, or even pay attention, but the older ladies like to try to hook me up with their grandsons, and some of them are pretty attractive, I may just be tempted…" She squealed slightly as a pillow hit her in the back.

"That's black mail Grace, it doesn't become you." He chuckled and got out of bed as well. It was only fair that she would want him to come to church with her, that is after all what started this all.

Jane found himself nodding off in the back pew of Grace's church. The choir had finished singing a half hour ago, and he was still here. Oh, if he didn't love that woman, he would have been out of here the moment she sang her last note.

Wait, did he just say love? He was wide awake now, trying to think about what he had just been thinking about. He did indeed say, or rather think, that he loved Grace Van Pelt. He wondered how long that had been going on and knew that it had been growing form before that fateful Easter morning when he realized that he was infatuated with her angelic singing voice.

If he hadn't had at least an inkling of love, he never would have shown up here at this church, or kept coming back. He was suddenly anxious for the service to end, not so that he could get out of this stifling church, but so that he could see the woman that he loved.

The preacher finally offered one last prayer signaling the end of the service and Jane was up off his feet, struggling against the masses towards the front where the choir was slowly trickling from behind the staging area having removed their robes.

He stood; bouncing on his heels like a small child, trying to see over the heads of the people coming form the back. Trying to catch sight of the familiar red head.

"Waiting for someone honey?" Asked a voluptuous woman who had just exited.

"Uh, yeah, I am." Jane said, not really paying attention to the woman until she put her arm through his.

"Well, maybe I can help make the wait bearable." He looked down at the woman, shocked at her overly forward manner.

"Back off Louise, he's mine." Jane tuned his head towards the voice, smiling. Noticing belatedly that the woman had let go of his arm.

"Whatever you say honey, I was just trying to make him feel at home." Louise said as she walked off.

"Thank you for that, she was truly a frightening woman." Jane said picking up Grace's hand and placing it in his arm, much as the other woman had. "You know, I think that you have the most beautiful voice." They were walking down the aisle, towards the entrance to the church. "And the most beautiful hair. In fact, there's nothing about you that I would change. I think that I might just l-"

"Well hello Mr. Jane! How kind of you to join us again. Did our lovely Grace entice you to come back with her lovely singing?" Jane cringed at the horrible timing of the pastor, and at the informal way that he addressed _his_ Grace.

"As a matter of fact, she did. What can I saw; she's a very persuasive woman." He kept his voice light, but unconsciously pulled Grace closer to him.

"She can indeed be persuasive. She once managed to convince the organist that she was playing one of the choir songs wrong. Our organist is very set in her ways." The pastor chuckled as if he had told a joke and Jane played along. He really wanted to get out of here.

"Well, we really must get going." Jane told the man, casually walking forward, dismissing him.

"Well, have a nice day." The pastor called after him.

"That wasn't very nice Patrick; the least you could do was talk with him." Grace said, trying to act offended. "But I'll let it slid this time. Oh, and Patrick." Grace stopped as they reached the car, holding both his hands in hers, "I think I love you too."


End file.
